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TLANTA -- Completion of critical parts of two nuclear reactors has continued to fall further and further behind schedule at Plant Vogtle near Waynesboro, two experts told regulators Tuesday.
The experts, hired by the Public Service Commission to monitor the reactors’ construction, said the builders may be able to work overtime to shorten some of the delays but probably not all of them. And a separate financial expert, Philip Hayet, testified in the daylong hearing that while the delays are adding to the total construction costs, he still believed electricity customers will benefit from the new reactors more than they would if the project were halted and a gas-burning power-generation plant were instead.
“Staff agrees with the company that continuing to construct the units is more economic than discontinuing construction and building an equivalent amount of combined-cycle, gas-turbine capacity,” he said.
The commission is holding an extensive hearing to determine whether it should approve $198 million that Georgia Power has spent on construction costs during the first six months of the year. All three consultants recommended approving the expenditures.
Unanswered is how the delays will impact power customers. If the commission ultimately decides they were unavoidable, it will give the utility permission to pass them along to consumers.
Hayet estimates each day late costs Georgia Power $2 million in financing and fuel, not counting any added construction expenses.
Utility executives have acknowledged being 21 months behind the original schedule, saying half of that was due to delays in getting federal approval to begin. But they haven’t acknowledged the added delay, which could amount to more than a year.
The construction consultants said key steps in assembling the reactors are drifting even more off schedule with every passing month.
Steven D. Roetger, an analyst for the commission, said the steps must be completed before other tasks can be started.
“These are not something off to the side,” he said. “These are critical-path activities.”
But Kevin Green, an attorney for Georgia Power, said the company has a contract with the builder includes a financial penalty for being late, except for when the company approves a request for a change order in that contract. He asked Roetger whether Georgia Power engineers readily agree to expensive change orders.
“I think the company is taking a very aggressive position on behalf of ratepayers with regard to change orders,” Roetger said. I’m amazed at the small amounts the senior executives are focused on.”
William Jacobs, a consultant who has been monitoring the construction on site since ground was first broken, warned the commission that Georgia Power doesn’t have a planned timeline from the builder for every phase of construction through to completion. But he said SCANNA, which hired the same builder for two reactors at a South Carolina plant, can’t get a detailed timeline either.
Follow Walter Jones on Twitter @MorrisNews and Facebook or contact him at walter.jones@morris.com.
